A wind from the past
by Mockingjayonfire8
Summary: Elizabeth is fifteen years old when she is reaped for the 65th Hunger Games, during her interview and through the games Haymitch, her mentor, realizes that she's his and his girlfriends' daughter, who was thought to have been killed along with his girlfriend and mother... this is my very first fan fiction so please review cuz I'm kinda new here and I really wanna know your oppinion
1. Chapter 1

Such a day only comes once a year, I woke up a lot earlier this morning than I usually would. The sun was really beautiful as its rays came dashing through my window, lighting up the whole room. The light was shining so nicely through the curtains that it gave my light blue wall a beautiful lined pattern. There was no way I could sleep any longer, mainly because I was too excited to actually be able to stand still. It was my birthday and even though I'm usually quite neutral about such days and don't get too enthusiastic about them, today was a little different. It was my fifteenth birthday, which meant that Nathan would have to keep his promise and take me out in the woods surrounding District 12.

I quickly rush to my wardrobe to pick something to wear. It's not too hard of a choice since my mother always gets us some incredibly pretty dresses from Sally. Sally lives in the seam, which is where the more unfortunate people live. They are not quite as well off as we are, and most of them have to put their lives in danger a lot to earn for their living. Most of the men work in the coal mines, which are our districts occupations, but others either try to earn someth ing by doing us little favors or even go poaching outside the district. Just like these people, Sally, while having to care for her 3 children, also makes these really cute dresses. I decide to put on a blue dress that is rather better looking than the others. After I comb my hair, making my brown curls stand out, I get the bracelet Nathan gave me and decide to head downstairs.

As I go down the stairs to meet my parents and little sister, Rosalind, an amazing scent hits me. That's when I realize that I can't just leave with Nathan now, since my mother will be heartbroken if I don't let her say "Happy birthday" to me, and make me eat the special breakfast that she prepares for all of us on our birthdays.

My parents were really just my guardians, as some people call them, menaing that they were my adoptive parents. My real parents left me on their front door on the day of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, and disappeared. We never really found out who they were but they raised me just as Rosalind, as if I was their own. The stairs lead into our living room, and as I get closer to our kitchen the smell gets better.

"Happy Birthday sweetie!" My mum immediately says, as I go into the kitchen.

"Thanks mom, where's rose, I thought she'd be up by now?"

"She had to leave earlier with your father to pick up a few things for school, come on, why don't you go eat; your pancakes will get cold?"

My mother said the recipe for pancakes has been known a lot before the dark days, but even though the recipe is so old, they are just incredible. Not even the bakers, whose shop is right next to ours, can make anything as good as them. After I finish, I help my mother with cleaning the kitchen a bit and then, seeing I'm quite excited, and in a hurry , my mum tells me to let her finish and that I should go and meet my friends. She was a bit wrong about that though; I wouldn't be with my friends today. I never actually did this before but Nathan and I will be skipping class, in order to go out in the forest. This was something normal for the kids from the seam, therefore Nathan was used to it, but neither I nor my friends had ever done so before.

As I head for the little meadow, next to the victors' village, I kept on thinking about how incredible it would be to go outside the district, I kept wondering how it would be. The capitol has been keeping all of us locked up into our own districts and no one ever went out except for the tributes for the Hunger Games and some other really important people. The capitol had sent out rumors telling us that we would be safe within the boundaries of our districts, and everything outside was full of dangers and beasts and other such things to scare us away. I've believed these rumors myself, although that was only until I met Nathan, who's father would always go hunting in the woods, and had taken him along for the past couple of years. He'd told me a lot about what's on the other side of the fence, and how there was never electricity in the fence. He'd also said how beautiful everything was and what nice it is to fell free from this "cage" as he called it. All of these things added up my curiosity, and I got him to promise me that for my 14th birthday, he would take me out there, in order to see all of these stories come to life.

"Elizabeth!" Nathan said right before having to catch me, in order to not fall down after scaring me so badly. I guess I was quite far away with my thoughts to notice anything happening around me.

"Happy Birthday sweetheart! You should really stop getting so scared, you're going to get a heart attack and die before you've even lived"

"Well I would stop getting scared if you stopped scaring me" I tell him as I try to playfully punch him in the stomach.

"And eat more proteins or else 3 year old could kill you in the arena." He says

"Ha...Ha I'm dying of laughter… as if you would be able to withstand it more than me; you'd probably juststep off the launching scheme and trigger off a mine." I tell him sarcastically. We always have such discussions, just trying to annoy one another, but we never actually take them seriously, just like we didn't now, since Nathan just started laughing and walking towards the fence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys, this is my first fanfic, so please review, I really need to know your opinion btw, sorry for making it sound a little boring in the begining, the action will come around chapter 4.. sorry about that but I'm really bursting with new ideas right now and they include rather boring subjects**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

As we reached the fence, I could see what Nathan's been talking about all this time, it seemed like a completely different world, and we weren't even out of the district yet.

"Nathan, this is beautiful!" I tell him.

"Just wait until I show you the meadow. We'll have to head back sooner today since the place is crawling with peacekeepers, there's always so many of them on reaping day, but don't worry; we can come another time as well.

He was right, today was the day of the reaping, the day I've been fearing for months already, and having nightmares about having been the tribute. This happened every year, to just about everyone I know. Being reaped for the hunger games, in District 12, has become the equivalent to having been sentenced to an imminent death sentence. In district 12, just about everyone was poor, and even us, the better off, was poorer than the poorest in other districts. This didn't matter quite so much, since money was almost nothing in the games, unless you were a sponsor, what mattered was your physical state. The only people that truly were in shape were those working in the mines, meaning that their names aren't being reaped anymore. We would always joke on the matter of the games but it truly was something serious which ended up with 23 deaths every year, many families torn apart. The games were the worst thing imaginable for us, mostly since the capitol has been keeping away anything that could be worse than that.

We kept walking for about 20 minutes through a thick forest that seemed to be of different shades of colors everywhere. If you looked to the left, there were small blue flowers, the trunks of the trees were covered in moss, and were a dark brown, whereas the leaves were screaming with a bright green color. The right side was slightly different; there were some flowers, although not as much as on the left, the trunks were a slightly lighter shades of brown and the leaves a dark green.

"Here it is the meadow! I've actually named the meadow after you, I didn't tell you until now because I wanted you to see why I did so. That is because this meadow, no matter what season, is beautiful and incredible, during the summer it screams with colors everywhere and wherever you look a bird or a rabbit comes out and enjoys the lovely weather. During autumn a carpet of leaves is laid down, as the forest is taking a break from the beautiful summer, and even as exhausted as it is, it's still blushing with every shade of brown imaginable, creating amazing patterns. During the winter, as the sun shines down on the beautiful clear snow, it reflects every single possible description of beauty, and spring is where it all begins again, when the flowers are back, and the trees are just getting their green shades back. It also is the season when I met you, and everything began "He said all this with a look in his eyes, that I've never seen anywhere else, not even when my father looked at my mother. Nowhere, it was just something magical. Not just the trees, the flowers, the animals, the light, but everything together it was incredible. Everything here was so beautiful; I don't see how it could ever be connected to me. But I guess Nathan sees the beauty in everything. I don't say anything for a couple of minutes, I just stare into his eyes as if preparing myself from the moment when I will not be able to see them anymore, as if, if I say something they would disappear and I'd never see them again, except for in my memory. Absolutely nothing could ruin this day, it was the most amazing birthday anyone could ever have.

"Liz? Are you still on this planet?" He asked me

"I'm sorry, it's just….Everything's just perfect" And I've never said anything that was more true than this, everything was in its place and nothing could ruin it or make it more perfect than it already was.

"I think we should head back, it's getting a little late, and I think Rosalind is going to need you by her side a lot, after all, it's her first year" Damn… I forgot again, but really how could I remember something so cruel in such a perfect moment. But he was right, we had to head back, it may be my birthday, but Rosalind needs me and I'll be there for her just like my adoptive parents were there for me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, here's the third chapter. Sorry I took so long to get to the reaping, but I had a couple of ideas for later on, which needed a bit of introduction, but here it is. I should post the next chapter by the end of the week, might even be tomorrow. Please tell me what you think about it so far :) btw, the things Effie says are in Italics, since they're exactly as in the book.**

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

By the time I got home, my father had already left for our shop. It wasn't anything big, it was a small candy shop and quite surprisingly, even though District 12 is such a poor district anyone would like some biscuits or something sweet to share with their family. May people came and bought some candy for their children's birthdays or for some family celebration, but most of the sale is done at Christmas, when candy is one of the best gifts and also one of the most wanted.

Rosalind was already in her beautiful red frock, and her hair was up in two pony tails. She looked more beautiful than ever. She's still so young, but she's not the little child she used to be anymore, she's tall for her age, and really pretty as well. All the girls in her class are jealous of how beautiful she is, and her long blonde hair is like nothing you've seen before.

"Elizabeth, why don't you go take a shower and get ready, you only have an hour to go, so hurry!" I heard my mom telling me from the kitchen.

Therefore I went upstairs, I was going to stay in the dress that I was in already, since it was really beautiful anyways, but my mother had left something for me on my bed. The color is a little darker than what I am wearing right now, but it's' just so beautiful. It a little shorter than this one, coming up to just above knee-level, and has a flowery pattern to it. After putting it on, I brush my hair once more, and take out the blue flower I took in the forest, leaving it on my window sill in a bit of water.

We still have about 20 minutes left until is starts, therefore we head for the square. Most of the people are there already. I hold Rosalind by her hand, until the moment when we have to sign in. The place is full with peacekeepers, and everywhere you look there are cameras along with the camera crew, making sure everything's in place and they wouldn't miss anything that happens. After I sign in, I go to where the fifteen year old were standing, a little more to the front, next to the sixteen year old I see Nathan who's also looking at me. The next person I try to find is Rosalind, the poor little girl was shaking from the moment we left the house. She's all the way in the back with the twelve year olds, holding hands with her two best friends, Marie and Angela. I could see by the looks on their faces that they weren't taking this any better than Rosalind was.

On the stage, the three chairs that are always present for the reaping days are occupied by the mayor, Effie Trinket and Haymitch Abernathy. The moment they entered the stage, the square settled down and everyone turned their attention to the stage. There, the mayor just got up and headed for the microphone placed in the middle of the stage, right in between the two glass balls full of name slip. Thousands of name slips, and three of them belong to me, and one to Rosalind. He starts talking about the rules of the Hunger Games, then the reasons for these games, taking us back in time with a story about the rebellion, some things about the dark days, and finally the Treaty of Treason. These are things I've had to listen ever since I was about 6, which is as far back as I remember having gone to the reaping to watch the two kids who would be sent away just to be brought back with no life in them whatsoever. He also introduced Effie Trinket and Haymitch. District 12, is a very weak district and in all the 74 years of the hunger games, has had only 2 victors, out of which only Haymitch remains, since the other committed suicide, probably since he couldn't stand what happened in the arena and how all those kids had had to die in order for him to still be alive. Haymitch was also the mentor of whoever was picked to go into the arena. He was also drunk and sober, probably the reason why he never gave any real advice to the tributes, leading them to an imminent death. Effie Trinket was the District 12 Capitol escort. It was obvious that she was only here to make a good impression and be upgraded to one of the better districts.

Once the mayor was done with his yearly speech, Effie went up to the microphone, and began with her yearly introduction.

"_Happy Hunger Games and May the odds are ever in your favor". _She had a huge curly, green wig on that, judging by the way she stood up and walked, must've weighed about a ton. After that, she goes on just as she does every year.

_"Ladies first._" I could feel the crowd settling down, this was the moment everyone's been dreading, the moment the names would be called out. Everything was so quiet; a small mouse could've been heard as it passed by. The only thing I could think of was, "let it not be Rose, she's too young, it can't be her." And I was right it wasn't her.

Effie had said out a name, and all the cameras and the eyes of everyone around were pointed at me. The name on that paper was not Rosalind, but Elizabeth… Elizabeth Reed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi guys, this is the next chapter, I would've posted it yesterday, but the internet was down, I really hope you like it. Please review and tell me what you think :)**

* * *

**Chapter 4: **

I was frozen in place, while rivers of questions flowed through my mind, "why me?" "Thousands of names and only 5 were mine, how come?", "what are the odds?" "Could this be just another nightmare?" Everything happened so fast, just a minute ago I was a simple girl from district 12, who was scared for her little sister, who just helped her parents run the candy shop, which went to a school and learned about the hunger games, and now? I was one of them, a part of the cruel games that have taken hundreds, even thousands of lives. I had to go up there before the peacekeepers decided to come after me. I had to be brave, I had to stay strong, or at least I had to seem so, in order to get people to like me, to get sponsors, to stay alive. I went up to the stage. It was a short walk, since I was rather to the front than the others. Effie took me by the shoulder, being nice, charming the people in charge of her to upgrade her. I could see my face on all the cameras, I was a strong disoriented girl from District 12.

"Well, look at you, aren't you such a pretty girl, well, now let's go on to the boys" I hear as Effie tells the crowd, I'm still hoping it's just a nightmare, that I'd wake up soon, and it will be my birthday, I will go away with Nathan in the woods, we would all be safe, together, some other innocent girl will go into the arena. No it was all too real, or at least it seems so, maybe my imagination was playing a trick on me.

"Liam Conner!" Liam, is that the name she read out? "Now come on up darling." Liam, is that the name she read out? I didn't know him too well; all I know was that he was a little older than me, maybe around 15. I've seen him a couple of times around the school and through the district. His parents own the textile shop, a few shops lower than ours. We've never really had much of a conversation, just a few times when he came around our shop or we went over to theirs. My mother had been quite close to his parents, although they drifted apart as the time passed and their interests changed. Although, even after this time, my mother would often give them some cake ornaments or other such things for events, such as Christmas, and they would give us some nice, quality materials.

When he reached the stage, Effie, just like the tradition had said, made us shake hands. We did so, and then we were directed inside. That is where each of us was assigned one room, where we would be able to say our goodbyes to some people. The first to come in, were my mother and sister. They both immediately hugged me, and told me that my father couldn't come, since he didn't want this last memory of him being of what he looked like right now… Devastated.

I didn't let them cry, I was afraid that if they broke down into tears, I would as well, and I had to look strong for the cameras. They both tell me that I had to do my best to win; I had to pay all the attention I could during training. When the peacekeeper came in to tell them they had 30 seconds left, my mother took out a necklace. When she gave it to me, I saw what it was. It was a flower, a rose, the symbol of our shop, the symbol of our family. No matter what happened in that arena, I had to remember where I belonged, who I was, that I belonged to a real family. That I was the diamond of this family. The rose was small, but it was very beautiful, it was made out of diamond, the product of coal, the product of District 12.

The next person that came in was Nathan, he told me to remember everything he'd told me about the woods, what he did, how he did it, the snares he taught me how to make, the plants that he'd brought in everyday, telling me which were poisonous and which were not. To remember the bow we made one afternoon, which was also the afternoon we burned it, or else the peacekeepers might have found it. He told me to be brave, to fight until the very end. Whether I won or not, I had to fight until the moment I was out of the arena. I promised him I would, that's when the peacekeeper came inside and had to drag him away from me, but right before it happened, he gave me one last kiss. This one was different than usual, it wasn't soft and nice, it was depressing in a way, this would be the last time we ever saw each other, our very last kiss, and we both knew it very well. No matter how much he'd taught me, I would never be able to kill a real person, I never even killed an animal. I would be the first to die in the arena, and Nathan and my family would have nothing else to do but watch me give my last breath.

The peacekeepers then came and took me away as well, we went outside, somewhere at the back of the Justice Building, there was a car waiting outside, I got inside, and looked outside to enjoy the last minutes I had left in my district. I wanted to catch every detail, to have a picture of my beautiful district even when I was in the capitol, even when I was in the arena. In the train station, I could see that Liam was already in front of the train, waiting to board it as I came. We both held hands and waved one last good bye to our families, friends and district. The next moment, we were being directed to a compartment in the train, and we were able to catch one last glimpse of everyone before the doors closed.

* * *

**You guys might have to wait until Monday for the next chapter, since I'll probably be out for the weekend, but who knows. btw the Catching Fire Trailer is coming out in just two days, I'm so excited, I really can't wait XD**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again, I couldn't really post anything yesterday, never mind that, I hope you like it, and if you do please review and tell me what you think :)**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

The first person I saw as we entered a different compartment was Effie Trinket. I wasn't quite sure what her expression looked like, perhaps she was studying each of us, looking at what we look like, whether we stand a chance in there or not. Trying to figure out whether we're worth her time. It only took her about two seconds to analyze our every detail, since before we even knew it she was back to her normal bubbly self, radiating with excitement.

"Aww, look at you two, you both look great, now why don't you have a seat, so that I can tell you a little bit about what's going on and what the plans are. Haymitch should be coming in, in a few minutes as well, he's going to be your mentor, so your lives basically depend on him." I never thought I would be in the situation in which my entire life depended on a drunkard. Perhaps Effie was trying to get us excited with that, but I could see on Liam's face that both of us were thinking about the same thing. Our lives depended on someone who didn't care about anything but drinking, and that he wouldn't be able to help us in any way, unless some sort of a miracle happened.

"Oh there you are, come on I think you might want to meet this year's tributes!" Effie said immediately, as Haymitch walked in. He sat down across the table from Liam and me. It was clear he'd already been in the bar compartment since he had a glass full of some sort of beverage. He didn't actually look quite as bad as he usually did. I would sometimes see him walking around town, looking rather homeless than one of the richest people, back in District 12. I'm guessing he took it slower with the alcohol, or the train is all out of it and he's trying to survive on the little there is.

I noticed Liam started introducing himself to Effie and Haymitch. "Well, I'm Liam Conner, as you probably know already; I am 15, almost 16." He seemed quite proud of me saying that, or he just wanted to seem brave, in order to get Haymitch's attention. Now they were all looking at me, probably expecting me to do the same thing.

"I'm Elizabeth Reed, and today's my 15th birthday, my adoptive family owns the candy shop, next to the Mellark bakery." That very moment Haymitch gave me a look I'd never seen on anyone's face, but it was somewhat of excitement, along with puzzlement and a very awkward stare at someone.

"Ummm, well then I guess… Haymitch, can you tell us a little about the arena, how it was how it usually is, something that could be useful." Liam said. He was always a very shy person, I've known him for a long time, and we would usually work on projects together in school. I was probably the only person he talked rather openly to, but even then he didn't say that much. Right now he had to get over that, and it was obvious he was making a great effort.

"Look, I think you know just as much about the arena as I do, and it doesn't mater what the arena is like, all that matters is what happens in the arena, because there's a higher possibility you'll get killed by someone than by the arena itself. Tell you what, both of you look great, probably not so fit but if you talk and behave as nice as you look, you might just get people to like you." He must've seen both of our faces after his explanation which was not the slightest useful and indeed quite confusing, since he went on by saying "You have to get sponsors! Exactly, the sponsors have money and privileges which can help you live. Now, you two may not be as fit as the careers, but you definitely have a better chance than last year's kids. You have to train and do as people tell you, then you might have a slight chance of surviving at least the first day."

Effie made both of us stuff ourselves with the food that they laid out for us. I must say everything looked incredible, so she didn't have too much trouble with making us eat. Even in the better off part of District 12 we didn't have such amazing food. Everything tasted incredible, and even though both Liam and I knew how to behave ourselves and look presentable, we couldn't stop ourselves from ignoring manners a little. Judging by the look on Effie's face I could tell she wasn't too happy about us doing this but I guess she's seen worse.

After we were all absolutely full, Effie showed each of us to our rooms. She told us that we had exactly two hours to send before the replays of the reaping, and that it was of our choice what we wanted to do, whether take a nap or just go around the train exploring. I have no idea how this woman can be so full of manners and always being on time. If I had to live in the capitol I'd probably go insane, I wouldn't be able to stand people like her for too long. I guess they're all just used to these things and we're the weird ones now.

My room was slightly smaller than my one at home. Everything inside was a light blue, and it was really beautiful, I really liked this color, it reminded me of my own room, and the morning sky back at home. Home, the place I would never see again, well, I guess I just have to enjoy every detail that brings back memories and keep those as close as possible, since they're all I have left right now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter, sorry I didn't update for so long I had loads to do anyways, now I'm back and so is the story, I hope you like it and please leave your comment on what you think.**

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

Effie was already there when I showed up in the room she had told us to go to after we rested. There was a huge screen TV in front of the couch where she was sitting. Haymitch was just behind the couch with a drink in his hand, the replays didn't start yet, and I have no idea what they were watching but I'm guessing it was some capitol movie with people dressed in very fancy clothes. There were a couple of people in a dark room talking to each other about some of their friends who have apparently gone missing. That's where I stopped watching because I would be seeing way too much of the capitol in the next few days, so I would just stick to some normal memories for now.

I decided to go into the previous compartment which, from what I could remember consisted of the food and drinks, I've had way too much earlier but this food couldn't do me any bad, after all if I wanted to survive at least the blood bath, I would have to put on some pounds, and I would need the energy from this food a lot anyways.

There were a few chocolate and cheese buns that I'd tried earlier which seemed really good, therefore I had one of each and also got myself some sort of fizzy drink that seemed to be some sort of grape juice. All of it was very appealing, although before I was able to finish my drink, I heard Effie talking to Liam who had just recently showed up, I decided that if even he was here it might be the right time for me to go back there as well.

The replays started with the kids from district 1, who seemed to be indeed fighting over who would go in the arena. There were loads of people volunteering, but finally after about 10minutes, 2 tributes were chosen. The first one being a girl who seemed a bit older than me, perhaps about 17 years old, her name was Jewell, and the boy was huge, I've never seen anyone like him, he was also about 18, and he was called Topaz. District 2 was also very similar, although not quite as many people volunteered; it was easier to choose the tributes, a 16 year old girl, Cynthia, and the boy, around 17 or 18, Crane.

The rest of the districts didn't stand out quite so much, except for the district 7 tributes that also seemed in very good shape, the boy was no older than 14 and the girl seemed to be around my age. I've heard that their district produces the wood and the paper for Panem; therefore they all have to do a lot of chopping up wood, that's probably why they're all so well built. After doing all that work I think that they even get better and more food than us.

District 9 though was an example of what these games really all about since both of the tributes were very young, probably in their first year of reaping. The kids from District 11 caught my attention, they seemed to be friends, the moment the boy reached the stage, and they hugged and kept holding each other's hands until the very end of the tape. That's when our district came, I saw myself when my name was called out, the moment they said it and the moment I realized what they said, but the girl on that screen did not show any fear, that was something quite unusual for me, I thought I would have looked worse but I didn't, I looked just like a brave girl from District 12 who is facing her death sentence with absolute bravery. There was a zoom in onto my parents, whose faces were absolutely indescribable, they looked a lot worse than when they came to say goodbye, perhaps they were trying their best to help me. A few moments later, Liam's name was called out; it wasn't as much his expression as it was his friends', Liam was just astonished whereas the boy standing next to him went completely white. I knew who he was. That boy was Taylor, a friend of his, I would often see them in the school talking to one another or writing something. They've been good friends for as long as I could remember, I know that I would often go outside and play with them on sunny days. Those were times when we still didn't have to worry about anything, we didn't know much about what the hunger games were back then or that we would soon have to face them.

After that last scene of Liam and I shaking each other's hand, the screen went blank, it was over, we've seen all the kids that we would face in the arena, that we will have to train with, that will have to die in order for one of them to live, for the capitol to have its victor. So many innocent lives taken away for a reason that only the capitol could find sense in. 24 lives of young children just taken away for the fun of some fancy and colorfully dressed people.

In the capitol, the games weren't a huge terrifying experience like they were for the rest of us; they were a piece of entertainment. A simple game that was played using children's lives. This is the reason none of the people from other districts ever volunteer, they know what the games are really about, whereas the ones from the capitol are raised to enjoy the hunger games and see them as nothing but some fun games where they would be able to bring honor to their district, after taking away the lives of so many other children.


End file.
